Bodega assault suspect arrested in Fort Bragg

A Bodega fugitive has been apprehended, three weeks after authorities suspect he tried to strangle a woman, a report that spurred a large SWAT response to the tiny west county hamlet, Sonoma County sheriff’s officials said.

A tip led detectives to Sean Cameron, 33, at a Fort Bragg hotel Thursday morning, Sgt. Spencer Crum said. Cameron was arrested on a $250,000 warrant on suspicion of domestic violence and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury. He was booked into a Mendocino County jail, Crum said.

Crum said he didn’t know where Cameron had been, other than Fort Bragg, since Feb. 19 when a woman accused Cameron of trying to rekindle a relationship then attacking her when she declined.

She sent an email to a deputy that morning, reporting that Cameron had showed up at her Salmon Creek Road residence about 3 a.m. and assaulted her, Crum said. When the deputy called her about 8:30 a.m., he could hear yelling in the background, Crum said.

The woman told deputies who came to her house that Cameron had left and was possibly armed with a handgun and rifle. Crum said her injuries didn’t require medical treatment and included visible marks on her body and a small cut to one cheek.

Deputies went to Cameron’s apartment above the Bodega Country Store in town, and someone who knows him said he was inside. Investigators spent hours trying to contact him inside the apartment, bringing in negotiation and SWAT teams and closing Bodega Highway for more than three hours.

Eventually, two people came out of the apartment and declined to cooperate or give information about Cameron’s whereabouts, according to Crum.

About 2:30 p.m., the SWAT team deployed several flash-bang grenades and entered the apartment.

Cameron was not there, and investigators suspect he had already left before they arrived.

He will be transferred to the Sonoma County Jail. Sonoma County District Attorney officials said they don’t yet have a scheduled court date.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.